


I Will Find You

by Penscribe



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betrayal, F/M, Falling In Love, Manipulation, My First Work in This Fandom, Piracy, True Love, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-29
Updated: 2016-08-07
Packaged: 2018-07-26 20:31:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7589023
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Penscribe/pseuds/Penscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All has been well in Storybrooke for the past few years and now Henry is preparing for college. At least, he would have, had a new band of pirates not rolled into town and flipped his entire world upside down. Are they friendly? Or is something evil lurking in the shadows?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. There’s A New Captain In Town

The town of Storybrooke was definitely not what she had been expecting. It was, in fact, just a normal, peaceful looking little town. Unassuming in every way. Not that she had been expecting much from this Land Without Magic.  Though she had been conjuring up more thrilling ideas of what this ‘Storybrooke’ would look like. As it was, Storybrooke was small, quaint, and just plain boring.

‘ _This is just ridiculous._ ’ She thinks to herself as the crew attempts to pull the ship into dock. Or rather, they would be had there not been another ship already occupying the space.

“Captain! You know what ship that is, yes?” It’s her First Mate Taylor’s voice that cuts through the hustle and bustle of the ships noise. He makes his way up to the bow of the ship where she’s standing; dodging around the crew members that are scurrying about the deck.

“Aye, I know what ship that is. The  _Jolly Roger_ ; I never thought I would see it in person.” She’s not quite as excited about this latest development as she should be. If the  _Jolly Roger_  was in port here, that could only mean that her captain was also in the vicinity.

“What would you like us to do, Cap’n?” Taylor asks.

“Drop anchor off-shore and we’ll take the rowboat. I don’t want a welcoming committee before I know what we’re dealing with here.” She instructs and Taylor gives her a mock salute that she can’t help rolling her eyes at. It was going to be impossible to remain completely inconspicuous off-shore.  _Their ostentatious black flags were bound to draw attention. S_ he hoped that the inhabitants of Storybrooke were too stupid to notice right away.

As she steps into the rowboat with Taylor and a few other members of her crew, she takes one last look at her ship. Most of the others are waving to her over the sides as they descend towards the frigid water. Hoping that their captain will return victorious once more. She should feel empowered by their confidence. Feel proud that she has such a loyal crew at her back, but she doesn’t. She just feels afraid. Afraid of what could be lurking in this Land Without Magic, or  _who_. As the boat approaches the dock, she takes a deep breath. Squares her shoulders, and prepares to face this ‘Storybrooke’ with the bravado of a fearsome pirate.

‘ _It won’t be long now, Mom._ ’

 

 

 

There was nothing better than having breakfast at Granny's, in Henry's opinion. It was sort of an unspoken tradition with his moms. Get up on Saturdays, take a brisk shower, and be at Granny's by eight. It was like clockwork at this point. 

He was going to miss this when he went away to college in the fall. So he cherished these little moments with his family as often as he could, and if he also managed to get a heaping helping of pancakes out of the deal? Well, he wasn't complaining.

So, here he sat on this crisp Saturday morning with both of his mothers; shoveling syrup drenched pancakes into his mouth. Emma was annihilating her plate of eggs and bacon, pausing between bites to take a swig of her coffee. Regina, meanwhile, was casually picking at her waffles while simultaneously reading the morning newspaper. Not that anything kind of interesting happened in Storybrooke anymore. It was more out of habit.

"What are you smirking at, Kid?" Emma asks around a mouthful of eggs. 

"Nothing. I just think it's funny how Mom still reads the  _Daily Mirror_." He's grinning into his cup of cocoa when Regina turns her attention to him, a smile on her lips. 

"I'll have you know, that I quite enjoy the articles." She retorted. 

"Oh please, you just read it for your horoscope."  Henry takes another bite of pancakes and smiles. A slight pink hue coloring his mom's cheeks at having been found out. 

"There's that." 

He and Emma both laugh at her embarrassment, and she flicks a raspberry off her plate at him. 

A comfortable silence falls over the table as they each return to their respective meals. He's once again reminded of how unbelievably lucky he is to have them both. It was sometimes hard for him to believe how far they had all come since the day that Emma rolled into town. Sitting here now, Henry knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would never find a more perfect family than his. It was like a fairytale. _Literally_. 

He smirked to himself at that thought.

They hadn't finished eating for more than ten minutes before Snow came bustling into the diner and straight up to their table. Emma scooted over to make room for her to sit, and Snow plopped down in their booth, her face conveying that this wasn't just a social visit. Henry perked up a little at this.

"Emma, you wouldn't happen to know if Killian has gotten a new ship, would you?" Snow said, though her voice hinted that she already knew the answer to her question.

"Um, not that I know of. Why?" Emma was plainly confused, and Henry couldn't help leaning forward a little more. He didn't want to miss this. 

Snow nodded and blew out a breath, "Well, when Neal and I went for our morning walk, we went down to the docks. The  _Jolly Roger_   was there, as always, but out in the distance was another ship. _Flying black flags_." Her voice dropped off to whisper in an attempt to keep the rest of the diner from overhearing. 

Emma and Regina shared a look across the table. They were not excited by this latest development. 

"So, wait...are you saying there are new pirates in town?" Henry tried to mask his mounting excitement.

"It could be a group of fisherman that think they're being funny." Emma pointed out, and Regina rolled her eyes so hard that Henry thought they'd fall out of her head.

"In Storybrooke? When have we  _ever_ been that lucky?" Regina pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. 

Henry caught movement outside of the diner window as the three women bickered amongst themselves. A group of figures, dressed head to toe in black, were strolling down Main Street as if they owned it. Henry was quite positive that he didn't recognize these people. Storybrooke was a tiny town after all. 

"I think I've spotted our new guests." He whispered and gestured towards the windows.

All three women turned to look at once, with varying levels of interest. Henry was dumbfounded by how  _not subtle_  they were being about this whole thing. A quick glance around the diner at the other patrons calmed his nerves some; no one was paying them a speck of attention.

Emma turned back around and unceremoniously banged her head on the table. "We were doing  _so good_." She whined.

"Maybe they're friendly?" Snow offered. 

Regina rolled her eyes again, "Don't be so naive. Since when have pirates ever been friendly?" she chastised. 

Snow scowled. 

"Hey! Hook is friendly." Emma said with an offense. 

"To  _you_."

Emma sucked in breath for a retort but Henry cut her off, "I think we should go and investigate our new friends." He said as he rose from his seat and began to make his way towards the diner door. It didn't take long for him to notice the three different sets of footsteps that hurried to follow him. 

Stepping out into the summer air, Henry took a quick glance around for the ragtag group of potential pirates. He found, to his dismay, that they had not lingered long outside the diner. That didn't keep them from getting too far away yet because he noticed them up the street.

Prodding at a parked car with their swords.

 ' _Oh for the love of..._ ' He thought as he broke into a jog up the street. 

"Hey! Are you guys okay?" He called. The young woman holding the sword startled. She then whipped around and thrust her weapon at him, shrieking: 

"Stay back or I'll flay you alive!" She jabbed her sword at him again and he leaped back in a panic.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm not going to hurt you!" He threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender. 

The young woman (who was definitely a pirate) lowered her sword a fraction, just as both of his moms and Snow came running up.  _Regina with a fireball in hand_. This caused the other pirates in the group to yelp in alarm and draw their weapons. Meanwhile, Henry silently said his farewells to a quiet, peaceful summer of normalcy. Emma shot a glare in Regina's direction before stepping in front of Henry in full Savior mode, a placating smile on her face.

"Okay, let's all calm down. Take a breath. Then we can figure out what's going on." Emma reasoned. She waited until Regina had extinguished her fireball, which she did reluctantly, before turning to face the pirates. The young woman, the captain, Henry guessed narrowed her eyes at them. After a beat, she slowly began to lower her sword, her crew then following suit.  

"There, see? No one is going to hurt you." Emma breathed a sigh of relief.

The captain scoffed.

"Enough of this, who are you and what are you doing here?" Regina took a few steps forward and practically hissed. 

The captain didn't even so much as flinch.

"None of that is your concern." The young woman finally spoke. Henry could practically see his mother vibrating with indignation. He smirked at the young woman's bravery. 

"Alright, you don't have to tell us why you're here. Not yet anyway." Emma threw her hands out in front of Regina (to stop her from igniting the poor girl) and looked back at the pirate. "Why don't you just tell us your name?" Emma tried.

"No."

"And why _not_?" Regina snapped.

The captain only glared.

"Look, if you don't at least tell us your name, my Mom here will have to arrest you. You see, she's the Sheriff." Henry bluffed. 

The captain had the decency to look a little nervous at that.

He could almost see the cogs turning in her head as she went over the different ways this scenario could play out. She was flicking her eyes between all four of them, then back out to the street. She did this a few more times, before heaving a sigh and shoving her sword in its sheath with annoyance. She raked her hands through her dark hair, glanced once more at the street, then finally decided it wasn't worth it. 

He met her blue eyes and his mouth inexplicably went dry. 

"My name is Zara Jones."


	2. Don't Trust Me

_Eight Years Earlier_

 

"That man over there wants some more ale, Mama." A little girl chirps to the woman behind the counter.

"Would you mind taking him some, my love?" The woman turns and slides a pint across the counter to her. She ruffles her hair affectionately before ushering her towards the man's table.

The little girl holds the pint of ale with caution, careful not to spill any as she approaches the man's table. He's sitting with a group, all unwashed and reeking of alcohol. His sword rests comfortably at his side, and she can see something red staining the hilt. She shudders.

He looks up at her when she slides the pint across the table to his awaiting hand. He flashes her a crooked smile, all rotten teeth, and devilishness that makes her skin crawl. She can't help scrunching up her nose at him. He hooks a finger at her and beckons her to him, and for a moment she debates running back to her mother. Something about the way that every man at the table is now eyeing her sets off warning bells in her head. 

Against her better judgment, she goes to the man anyway.  

"Ye look an awful lot like yer da." He says behind his drink, eyes never leaving her. 

"You knew my dad?" She can't keep the amazement out of her voice. 

He took his time answering, taking a rather large swig of his drink. "Aye, I _know_ yer da. Owes me lots of gold he does." He narrowed his beedie eyes at her and rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. 

"I-I'm sorry..." She gulps and he grins at her again, loving the fear that is vibrant in her eyes. She turns to run back to the safety that is her mother, but smacks hard into the chest of one of the crewmen. He grabs her arms and holds her fast, and she screams, high and piercing, attracting the attention of the rest of the tavern's patrons. She struggles against her captor, but to no avail. She's just _not_ strong enough to wriggle free, and the rest of the pirate crew is cackling at her. She can feel the tears spilling down her cheeks, which makes the men laugh _more_. 

The captain is on his feet then, wiping away tears of laughter. He grabs a fistful of her hair and yanks her tear-streaked face up to meet his. 

"Yer comin' with us, ye little searat. Yer da will pay-" The captain staggered and crumpled to the floor. Her mother stood behind him, her eyes wide with fear and anger. The frying pan she used as a weapon raised for another strike. 

"Cap'n!" The girl's captor squawked. Seeing that her mother had provided a means of escape, she kicked her captor in the shin with all her might.

_That did it_.

He dropped her with a loud yelp of pain and she scrambled away.  

"Zara, _run_!" 

 

 

_Present Day_

 

If she were any more angry about her current situation, she would probably spontaneously combust. It's absolute, without a doubt, the dumbest thing that could have happened.

They were bloody  _arrested_.

She's a pirate, the terror of the sea, and yet here she is, sitting in a jail cell. A _tiny_ jail cell. In the _bloody Land Without Magic_. 

Unbelievable. 

' _Tell us your name, they said. We won't arrest you if you tell us your name_.' The lousy liars. And here she thought that only pirates and ne'er-do-wells lied that good. Figures. 

They've separated her from her shore party, who now reside in the cell adjacent to hers. They don't look particularly concerned about the current standing of things, so for that, she's relieved. 

' _At least_ they _look happy_.' She huffs to herself.

The young man with brown hair and hazel eyes look up at her. He's been pouring over the large, brown, leather book in his lap for the last twenty minutes, so it's a surprise to her when he manages to tear his gaze away from it. From her position in the cell, she can't very well make out the title, though it looks old and well used. He squints at her as if he's trying to read her mind, and she glares back at him with all the disdain that she can muster.

He shakes his head and goes back to flipping through his book.

She thumps her head back against the wall and sighs. She doesn't have time for this. She has things she needs to _do_. A schedule to keep and all that rubbish. Couldn't these people see that? No, the three women were all too wrapped up in whatever book the boy was reading. Or sneaking glances at her when they thought she wasn't looking. 

She smiles cheekily at the woman with short, black hair when she catches her staring next and counts it as a win when she flushes.

After another bout of flipping through the book, the young man slams it shut with a huff. "I can't find a Zara Jones anywhere in the book."

"Well, she has to have come from _somewhere_." The Woman With The Fireballs (as Zara liked to refer to her) said with a scowl.

The blonde woman turned towards the cell and crossed her arms, in what seemed like an attempt to be intimidating. If Zara hadn't already had her arms crossed, she would have, just to make it a point that they couldn't scare her. So instead she broke out her most devilish smile.

"We'll see what Killian says when he gets here." The blonde finally said.

As if on cue, the doors to the jail opened and in strut a man that was so handsome it was _unfair_. Had she cared about that sort of thing. Which, she didn't. Not at all. He waltzed up to the blonde, pecked her cheek affectionately, then turned his attention to Zara as if he was just realizing she was there.

_Rude_.

He gave her a quick once over, and she felt a lot like some sort of animal on display. A crease formed on his brow when his _blue, blue eyes_ met her face. As if she were some sort of convoluted puzzle that he couldn't quite work out the answer to. The look didn't last long, however, before he was grinning at her.

"So you're our new troublemaker, are you?" Goodness, even his _accent_ was lovely. 

She winked at him and he smirked.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "She says her name is Zara Jones. Do you know her?"  

He looked a little surprised by this but shook his head anyway. "Is she not in the lad's book?" At the quick 'no' the blonde spit out, he nodded, "I have never come across this Zara Jones before in my travels. I'm also certain I would have found out about any long lost siblings or distant relatives."   

"Unless she's your illegitimate child or something..." The Woman With The Fireballs mumbled under her breath.   

Every person in the room shot her a glare, Zara included. The woman raised her hands in surrender before resuming her position of mock disinterest.   

He rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to Zara, "At any rate, my name is Killian Jones. Or, if you prefer, my more colorful moniker, Captain Hook. At your service, lass." He said with a flourished bow.

Captain Hook. _The_ Captain Hook. 

_Interesting_.

She'd known he was in town from the _Jolly Roger_ being in port, but she had no way of knowing that he was in so deep with her jailors. She took a moment to assess the Captain. The silver hook that was his left hand gleamed a little in the light, and she momentarily pondered what it would be like to have a hook for a hand. It would be a burden, she decided. Other than the deadly hook, the Captain didn't look all that threatening. _Definitely not_ what the legends made him out to be.

' _Shame_.' She intones.     

"That's a lovely ship you've got there, Captain." She says.

"Yes. Don't go stealing it, please." He narrows his eyes _just a little_ at her to emphasize his point.

"No promises."

The blonde woman clears her throat loudly. Huh, she'd almost forgotten she was there. "So if you don't know her, and she's not in Henry's book, then we can only assume that she's some random pirate that _just so happened_ to float into town. Correct?"  The woman looked around to the other inhabitants of the room for confirmation. 

They collectively nodded in agreement. 

"All right then, I guess we can't keep them locked up." She pulled a small ring of keys out of her pocket and started on unlocking Zara's cell door. Though she doesn't look _at all_ convinced that they _just so happened_ to be there. 

' _Finally_.' She's thankful that she can finally get on with her task. It only took two hours of watching them read a book and scrutinization via Captain Hook.

Storybrooke was _weird_.  

"Don't worry, Emma. We'll know if they get into trouble." The woman with the short, black hair chirps. 

Once Emma unlocked her cell (and gave her one last _stern_ look for the road) Zara couldn't help the devilish smile that slid onto her face.

"You can trust me." 

 

 

    

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes? No? Maybe?

**Author's Note:**

> Recently updated to try and clean it up some. Feel free to leave suggestions!


End file.
